Thursday, February 5, 2015

Political Campaigns going digital this elections

Arvind Kejriwala, Kiran Bedi and Ajay Makhen are reaching out to general public via frankly.me

New Delhi, 4th Febraury, 2015 : Young and active Indian social media users are adding a whole new dimension to the social debates around political developments. Political parties are spending enormously to woo them and make them their supporters. However, how to target the right audience as per their political alignments and user profile is the biggest challenge in front of political parties.

Showcasing how AAP with the help of a unique concept by IITians is truly democratizing the Indian elections like never before. For the very first time that the Indian electorate can ask the candidate's plans for their constituency, cross examine them directly at any and every moment of time and not just hear 1 sided speeches.

Frankly.me has 48 AAP members on their platform and they are actively answering the queries from general public. Apart from AAP members, Frankly.me also has Ajay Makhen and Kiran Bedi with them from the old school.

Nikunj Jain, Co-founder, Frankly.me commented, “The team Frankly.me is really proud and happy with the recent advancements in the platform and it’s steadily rising popularity with the empanelment of noted public figures including politicians. With Frankly.me, these personalities intend to understand the masses and their expectations better. This facilitates them with first-hand information directly from the common people and gives them insights which are more perceptive.”

Here, political parties are going digital using mobile applications for video chat with the masses though Frankly me. The application is for Android and iOS users. Targeted at empowering common people with the ability to have one to one conversations with anyone in the limelight- be it celebrities, politicians, entrepreneurs, IAS officers or sports personalities, it is open to users all over the world. The funding will be used to focus on India for the next 15 to 18 months and towards overcoming the challenge of expanding in a market with more than 20 officially recognized languages.

Taking advantage of the country’s fast-growing mobile penetration rate, the platform intends to impact the Delhi elections this year to gain more traction. Currently, it boasts of having a cluster of noted public figures including politicians like Arvind Kejriwal, the ex-chief minister of Delhi, Yogendra Yadav and Kiran

Bedi.

Exposure from public figures on the platform has resulted in 1,000 to 2,000 new users each day. At present, it competes directly with formidable rivals like Twitter and Youtube. The factor that gives it an edge is that it enables two-way communication easily. The Questions submitted are up-voted by other users, so the most popular ones are seen and hopefully answered. Frankly’s interface also enables in-depth discussions to take place.

About Frankly.me

Frankly is a mobile app where people ask questions to public figures and celebrities who then answer them back in video selfies. The idea is to expand the horizon of conversations that people take part in their lifetimes. They aim to do this by giving people access to frontrunners, average Joes and even the backbenchers from different walks and forms of life.